The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-11-18
CoNoU- RED AND COZ QUERoRs.
The Contempt in Which the Arabs
Hold Their French Rulers.
From AL the Year Round.

Hold Their French Rulers.
From AL the Year Round
At that ball, as during the whole of my
stay in Algeria, nothing asst Jnished me more
than the evident contempt entertained by
the conquered for the conquerors, but they
seemed inclined to make no effort to throw
off the yoke. 1t is as if they felt that they
were conquered, not by the French,
but by some inevitable fate to
whose decree they must bow
with unquestoned submission On the
other hand, the efforts which the French
make to conciliate the Arabs are almost
AFFECT in the fervor of their humility. That
evening, if one of the sheiks condescended
to stroll into the ballroom, half a dozen
official persOnages advanced to bid him well
come; the Governor and his wife over
whelmed him with attention, and a special
officer was told off to walk by his side and
give him any information he might require.
If this were done in the hope of exciting
gratitude it was labor in vain; the sheik re-
ceived the advance of his entertainers with
stately courtesy, but evidently regarded all
homage as his Just due.
Nor is it only in the palace that this ex-
traordinary inversion of the usual relation
ship between the conquered and the con-
querors exists; IN the streets, public assem-
bleS, everywhere, the same efforts are made
by the French officials to avoid all cause of
offense. The gendarmerie and the soldiers
are literally hidden away in dark hooks and
caves, lest their presence should wound the
susceptibllitIes of the native race, and on
the few occasions when they must necessa
rily be brought to the fore, apparently
they receive private instructions that
the Arabs are not to be sub
jected to any of those petty
tyrannies which it so delights the soul of a
French official to practice his own coun-
trymen. An amusing instance of this
occurred at the Algiers races a few DAYS
after the ball. A part of the ground near
the grand stand was surrounded by a red
cord, as sign that the public was ex-
cluded. Through some misunderstanding a
motley crowd of Europeans broke down
the red cord and crowded into the reserve
space. The gendarmes, bristling with fury,
rode into their midst, and, striking right
and left with perfectly unnecessary VIC
lence drove the people away. Some half
hour later the same thing occurred; again
the red cord fell and crowd took possess
ion of the reserved ground, but this time the
crowd was Arab evidently of the poorest
class, but still Arab. l expected repetition
of the former scene, but to my establishment
one gendarme looked at another, he made a
sign to third, who looked for directions to
a fourth, but no one ventured to address the
ntruderS.
AT length some official of Importance was
sent for, and after considerable delay, hest
tatior and consultation, this person did
summon sufficient courage to ride up to the
inclosue, but far from there being any
signs of the violence and abuse to which tie
Europeans had been subjected he bowed to
the Arabs as if they were sovereign princes
and he the most lowly of their subjects. In
the blandest of tones he arologized for dis
turbing them and ent rel into the most
elaborate explanation the why and
wherefore of the case, buC all his prayers
and entreaties were in vain. The Arabs
listened to what he said with a courtesy
equal to his own; the staid gravity of their
faces never relaxed, but move they would
not, and did not, and at length the officer
rode away with a gesture of despair and
gave orders that they were to be left in
possession of the ground